Fully healthy Rafael Nadal ready to dominate clay-court season

For the first time in three seasons, Rafael Nadal will enter the clay-court season free of injury with his eyes set on an unprecedented 10th French Open title in June. Nadal will begin the road to Roland Garros starting next week at Monte Carlo Masters before proceeding to the Barcelona Open in his home country of Spain.

After missing most of 2016 with injury, Nadal has made a remarkable start to the new year, having reached the final in three of his five tournaments, namely the 2017 Australian Open, Mexican Open (Acapulco) and Miami Open. Granted that Nadal lost on all three occasions, twice to arch rival Roger Federer, the Spaniard has provided his fans encouraging signs all year and could prove to be nearly unstoppable on clay courts.

Last year, Nadal began the year with opening round defeats at the Australian Open and Miami Open before clinching the first two tournaments of the clay-court season -- at Monte Carlo and Barcelona -- before suffering a career-threatening wrist injury which forced him out of the French Open. In 2015, too, Nadal entered the clay-court season with multiple injuries before losing to Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. This year, however, Nadal is the prohibitive favourite to win the French Open, according to several analysts.

"Since the beginning of the year, everything has gone better than expected. I am very happy about the first part of the season on hard courts before the clay arrives. I won a lot of matches. I have a lot of points," Nadal said at the conclusion of last month's Miami Open, per The National.

Rafael Nadal could rise in rankings before 2017 French Open

The 9-time French Open champion is currently ranked No. 2 in the ATP's Race to London with 2,235 points. Only twice before -- in 2009 and 2014 -- has the Spaniard managed to tally more than 2,000 points within the first quarter of the year. "I am still defending a lot of points on clay the next four tournaments, especially the first three ones, but I won a lot of points during the first part of the season, so that helps," said Nadal.

Though Nadal has yet to square off with top seeds Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray this year, he has rediscovered some of the aggression that helped him capture 14 Grand Slams. "I am (playing) a very high level of tennis and I believe I am ready to win titles. I’m playing well enough to fight for everything, I think. I have good hopes that I am going to be ready for Monte Carlo. Always when I am playing this well, on clay always helps a little bit more for me. So, I am very excited about playing on clay again."

Rafael Nadal, widely regarded as "The King of Clay," has won 49 out of his 69 career tournaments on clay courts. Between 2004 and 2014, Nadal won an average of 4.09 tournaments on clay every year. Needless to say, those averages have nosedived for the aging star.